How to make a spooky Zombie hand for Halloween!

It's the last week before Halloween, so we thought we'd share this really cool Zombie Plant!

This would be so simple to make yourself - you could do loads and have a Zombie Garden - or get the whole family involved and have kiddy zombies too! 

To make a cast of your hand, all you would need is:

A bucket
Alginate
Plaster
Your own choice of decorations - be it paint, bandages - or why not glitter for a glamorous, sparkly spook?!

How?
1) Mix your alginate according to instructions, and pour it into your bucket.
2) Then place your hand in, creating whatever shape you'd like with your fingers
3) Wait for the alginate to set (about 15 minutes), then carefully pull your hand out.
4) Mix up your plaster and pour it in! The plaster should have set after around 20 minutes, then you simply break away the alginate and you're ready to go.

Tips: 
1) Don't make your fingers too curled, it'll make it harder to remove your hand from the alginate without damaging the mould
2) Only immerse your hand up to your wrist - any deeper and again, it'll be difficult to remove without damaging the mould

You could use your plaster hands in loads of different ways to decorate your Halloween party or just generally creepify your house a bit! We'll be sharing some more ideas in the lead up to Halloween so keep your googly eyes peeled...

Customer Focus: Names In Lights

For the very first Customer Focus, we spoke to Names In Lights. Based in Wirral, they make custom decorative lights – mainly in the shape of words, although they have been known to dabble in something a little different. The lights are made using our clear cast resin, strengthening and UV additives, and occasionally our gelcoats and topcoats on bespoke projects.

We spoke to Jill Bonner, one of the partners there, about how they came to create their lights and how they do it.

Life Casting with Grotesque FX Studio

Just in time for Halloween, we went down to see Steve Hollins at the spooky Grotesque FX Studio in Camborne, and watched him work his magic on Alex, our very own Technical Advisor. Alex wanted a mould of his head taken, and Steve is just the man for the job. 


Steve's workshop appears very unassuming as you approach, but when you open the door you're greeted by a sea of disembodied heads, hands and feet, as well as some creatures that have never been seen before...

The whole process of life casting is very involved, and Alex went through various stages - from bald cap, right through to mummification!

Colourful Resin Jewellery Blog

We stumbled across this interesting and colourful blog from Mill Lane Studio, written by Australian artist and designer, Myléne Hillam. She shares her creations, and also gives handy tips and tricks for how to solve problems and work effectively with resin.

Here's a post about cleaning up bubbly resin!

"Psychedelic crystal cave" resin jewellery!

Australian visual artist, Kate Rohde, has created a collection of resin jewellery "reminiscent of a psychedelic crystal cave".

'Mega Crystal Cuff' (Citrus)

Iconic Red Phone Boxes Get Revamped for Charity

Remember The Big Egg Hunt from earlier this year? Well this time it's the turn of the traditional red phone box to get the fibreglass treatment.

Bottle Cap Jewellery

We've found some more interesting resin jewellery!

Fruity Resin Jewellery

Lots of jewellery designers use resin to make their creations, but this is something we've never seen before!

Real Fruit Jewellery, a company in Philadelphia, USA creates beautiful designs using fresh fruit!